Slow Play is a good technique if used aptly

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Slow Play is a good technique if used aptly.

Slow play is a great technique to win if you can apply it accurately and appropriately. Slow play, also called sandbagging, is a deceptive strategy in poker just opposite to bluffing.

In bluffing, you try to fool your opponents into thinking that you have a strong hand by increasing the bets, when actually you do not have such a strong hand. In slow play, you actually are sure that you have a strong hand that can win the game, but you slow down your betting or just pass the bets. This misleads your opponents into thinking that you do not have a strong hand, and so probably they might have it. This will lead them to increase the betting vigorously. Since they tend to think that you are probably giving up your bets, they have the chance to win the pot.

By tricking other players like this, you can get them to put more money into the pot and stop them from folding in case they are thinking of it. This strategy lures your opponents into the pot! Naturally, if you have a strong hand and raise your betting, they would either call or fold depending on their hands.

Of course, this is very tricky and also dangerous, as you will be giving up the security that a bet or raise would provide you. Also, you will probably decrease the overall pot value, as there is a possibility that your opponents might also slow down their betting after you pass or bet low.

You need to play slow only when you are sure that a) your hand is strong enough to win the pot, b) if you know that your opponents are going to bet or raise even if you do not bet, and c) you sense that your opponents will fold if you raise the bet.

You need to be sure that your hand is strong enough to neglect the chance of getting beaten. If other player has only two pairs and you bet strongly, he might think that you probably have three fours. If he sees that he has no chances of improvement even with the later dealt cards, then, he might very well fold his hand at that instant resulting in less pot value.

After some small stakes you can raise the bet causing the pot to increase and grab it all. If the number of players in the game is more, more money will come into the pot. This is the goal of slow playing. Undoubtedly, you should not keep them so long that they improve their hands in games like draw poker.

After some slow play, you need to bet strongly because otherwise everyone will start to slow down on their betting.

Another slow play strategy most commonly tried only in the last round of betting is called "fishing for the overcall". When in the last round, you get the last card and know for sure that you’ve got a winning hand without any uncertainty, then, instead of raising your bet (which is done usually), you will call or bet very low. This will result in the players next to you to finish the round bet normally, who otherwise would have folded if you have increased the betting understanding that you got a good hand.

Just to remind you, this technique of slow playing or sandbagging is appropriate when more number of players are behind you in the betting structure. However, if there are only one or two players behind you, there is no need to slow down the betting since the difference between the overall increase and the margin of pot would not be high.